Church view to the outside

In the World

Steve Thorngate on public life and culture

Some marriage equality links

May 15, 2012 by Steve Thorngate

Last week I joined the chorus of those who wished for a bit more from the president's endorsement of same-sex marriage. Among those who were more unambiguously enthusiastic, I found E. J. Graff's later post pretty compelling.

The wrong question, but still the right answer

May 10, 2012 by Steve Thorngate

Early this week, the same video kept popping up on my Facebook wall. It's from a press conference in Greensboro, at which North Carolina NAACP president William Barber (whom the Century profiled here) made a crucial point: "How do you feel, personally, about same-sex marriage?" is the wrong question. The right question is about equal rights under the U.S. Constitution and federal law.

By midweek, my Facebook wall was overwhelmed with comments (and links) about President Obama's decision to give the right answer to the wrong question.

Tom the troubadour

May 09, 2012 by Steve Thorngate

I probably shouldn't be surprised if I learned that, when N. T. Wright isn't busy exegeting, episcopating or writing best-sellers, he throws 100-mph fast balls and makes award-winning beer. But for some reason I was a bit startled to find out that he's not only a Dylan fan but a pretty decent singer, too.

Links? Links.

May 04, 2012 by Steve Thorngate

Here are some things I read recently but didn't get around to blogging about.

The Century wins some things

May 04, 2012 by Steve Thorngate

I'm afraid I fell down on the blog a little this week. My excuse: I spent most of the week at the annual convention held by the Associated Church Press, an association of religious publishers of which the Century is a member and for which I serve on the board. It was a good gathering: interesting keynotes, useful workshops, plentiful fellowship.

Are Democrats more likely to be anti-Mormon?

Apr 27, 2012 by Steve Thorngate

"Between now and Election Day," writes Peter Beinart, "anti-Mormonism is going to be the Democratic Party’s constant temptation for one simple reason: there are votes in it." I'm not sure I'd call it the party's "constant temptation," but Beinart is certainly right that bigotry against Mormons remains a politically potent force in the U.S., and that the Democrats aren't above exploiting it.

But is Beinart right that the Democrats have a bigger religious bigotry problem here than the Republicans do?

The nonnegotiable vs. the unmentioned

Apr 25, 2012 by Steve Thorngate

It's no big shock that the Catholic bishops' religous freedom campaign is being crafted by others into far more partisan messages than anything from the bishops themselves.

In which the GOP senators act like public servants

Apr 20, 2012 by Steve Thorngate

For the last couple years, congressional Republicans have often acted as if the only point of governing is to do less of it. Not so with the Senate minority leadership this week.

More on Douthat

Apr 18, 2012 by Steve Thorngate

Still haven't read Ross Douthat's book, which I anticipate having some problems with. I have, however, been following with interest his conversation with William Saletan. Saletan, skeptical about some but not all of Douthat's views, asks good questions, and Douthat gives thoughtful replies. I think this comment from Douthat is generally a wise one:

A quick word on your “if it feels good, don’t do it” distillation of my message. We can dig into this more as we go, but for now I’d just point out that at various times, Christianity—and particularly my own Catholicism, the faith of carousing Irishmen, hedonistic Italians, and “give me chastity, Lord, but Lord not yet” sinners in every time and place—has been scolded for being altogether too worldly, too pleasure-loving, too forgiving of the weaknesses of the flesh.

A tax-day miscellany

Apr 17, 2012 by Steve Thorngate

Have you filed your tax return yet? If you prepared it yourself, congratulations on navigating that complex web of forms and instructions, an ongoing complexity brought to you by a strange lobby comprised of tax-preparation companies and antitax activists.

Senate Republicans blocked the Buffett Rule yesterday, a sad moved surpassed in sadness perhaps only by the smallness of the proposed minimum tax itself.